


Bleeding Out

by MCUsic_to_my_ears



Series: Whumptober 2019 [11]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Christmas Party, F/M, Gun Violence, Peter Parker is a Mess, Whump, Whumptober, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-26 10:29:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21372676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MCUsic_to_my_ears/pseuds/MCUsic_to_my_ears
Summary: The party was supposed to be at least a little fun.***Whumptober 2019 Day 23: Bleeding Out
Relationships: Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Whumptober 2019 [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1504922
Comments: 4
Kudos: 69





	Bleeding Out

**Author's Note:**

> Who cares if it's not October anymore? I started this fic and I'm going to post it gosh dang it!

Michelle knew that she just remembered Peter breaking promises more than him keeping them because they stood out. That, in reality, it was only a handful of times that Michelle requested "No Spider-Man" and Peter jaunted off in the suit anyway. She knew that they were emergencies. That Peter wouldn't do it unless he had too. But now she wished that her misconception was more true than it was. That Peter always broke his word and always had the suit and always was the hero. 

Because he didn’t have the suit now, and he certainly wasn’t the hero. 

***

Peter had invited Michelle as his plus one for the SI Winter Holiday Party. He normally brought Ned, because the dork was always over the moon to be in the same space as Tony Stark. But Ned’s mom had surprised the teen and his siblings with a trip to see family in the Philippines over the holiday break, and since Michelle took pity on her boyfriend’s social anxiety, she agreed to go with him. 

They had arrived at the party about thirty minutes after it had started. Tony was already down there, along with Pepper, who Michelle had plans on conversing with whenever she got the chance. After all, if she was going to go to some bougie party, she should at least get some taking-over-the-world tips from the woman who had gotten the closest so far. 

Peter, who had been to a number of galas at this point, led Michelle to a table in the corner and set up shop. Although the attendees were employees and interns, like Peter, he never felt quite at home among them. Michelle couldn’t blame him. From what she could tell, most of them were at the party to rub elbows rather than because their pseudo-father’s wanted them to. 

“Can we leave yet?” Peter whined, running his fingers along the miniature menorah that dotting each table in the room. No doubt they were Tony’s tribute to Peter’s Jewish background. The boy didn’t bring it up often, and Michelle wasn’t entirely sure he believed in a god anyway, but around the holidays, he went all out.

Michelle rolled her eyes. “Considering that we’ve been here for twenty minutes and your dad hasn’t come over yet? No.” Sure enough, Tony was across the room entertaining a group of older engineers. Pepper was at his side, sighing at whatever anecdote he had chosen to tell.

Peter followed her gaze and groaned. “Can we at least get snacks?” he begged. There was a long table stretching across the far wall filled with anything from apple slices to horderves. 

Michelle nodded, hungry herself. “What’s the point of a fancy party if we don’t bankrupt them with your appetite,” she agreed. 

Peter frowned at her humorously, before jokingly locking elbows with his girlfriend. Michelle chuckled and followed his lead toward the buffet. As they were the only two students from Midtown, she figured she could let her reputation go for one night. 

The low murmur of schmoozing and the hum of classical music washed over her as they neared the bulk of attendees. Peter smiled lazily beside her, waving to his mentor, who grinned. 

Then, a couple yards from the buffet, Peter stiffened suddenly, before pushing MJ to the ground. A split second later, a shot rang out and Peter toppled onto her. 

Panic surged through the room. Michelle scrambled out from under Peter, gagging when she saw the blood seeping out of his torso. 

She froze for half a moment before jolting into action. She didn’t care if there was still an active gunman in the room. She didn’t care if every shooter drill taught her to smear Peter’s blood on herself and play dead. 

Michelle pressed her hands over his wound, cringing when he whimpered at the pressure. She didn’t dare move, instead watching her boyfriend’s contorted features. Without warning, his eyes shot open and he reached an arm out and pulled her against his chest with a strength he normally reserved for inside the suit. A moment later, a bullet stuck itself inside the wall behind her. 

When Michelle dared peak up again, the shooter was tackled to the floor by Tony’s fearless security team, although the man himself was nowhere to be seen. One of the guards peeled away from those escorting the assailant out and approached Michelle and Peter. Happy. Michelle knew him. 

Unsure what to do, she held up a blood-soaked hand, keeping the other firmly on Peter’s abdomen. 

He cursed, pulling out his cell phone. Within five minutes, Peter was being carted off by an EMT. Michelle followed, along with Happy. Finally, Peter was whisked behind surgery doors and the teen slumped into waiting room chair, staring at her blood crusted over her fingers. At some point, she must have fallen asleep, because a quietly cleared throat jostled her awake.

“Hey, um.”

Michelle looked up to find Tony Stark standing in front of her. 

“Thank you for saving him,” the man started. “If you hadn’t applied pressure, the kid probably wouldn’t have made it.” His voice was gruff, and although he had switched out his suit for a pair of worn jeans and a long sleeved shirt, he was stiff as a board.

“He saved me. Twice.” Michelle glanced down at her hands. 

Tony nodded. “Yeah. Kid does that a lot.”

“I told him to leave the suit. Before we came to the party. He wanted to bring it and I said no.”

The engineer nodded, taking a seat next to her. “The likelihood of him needing the suit at an event in my building… should’ve been zero percent. If you want to get mad at anyone for putting Peter in danger, it’s me.”

Michelle rolled her eyes. “It’s so Peter to get hurt at a holiday party,” she scoffed, feeling the anxiety slowly trickle out of her. The knowledge both that Peter was okay and that nobody blamed her slowly relaxing her. 

“I think it’s his silent protest that his Jewish heritage wasn’t represented well enough,” Tony confided. 

She laughed. “There was a menorah on every table!” 

“I think it was the lack of dreidels, but who’s to say.” 

Later, when the pair was allowed in Peter’s room in the med bay, they continued to joke around with Peter rather than focusing on his healing wounds.


End file.
